Moby's Revenge - Sperm Whales Learn To Strip Fish From Hooks

[hatrack]

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Sperm whales have the largest brain of any animal, and some in the Gulf of Alaska are proving it at mealtimes by letting humans do all the work.

Researchers are now investigating what commercial fishers have long noticed: that the whales have learned to pluck sablefish off hooks attached to their long fishing lines. "They somehow just pick them off like grapes," said fisher Dick Curran, who has fished the gulf's deep waters for decades. "I don't know how they do it."

No one knows how the whales have come to target sablefish, also called black cod, whose oily, rich flesh has become a lucrative product in Japanese markets. So a coalition of commercial fishers and biologists has begun to investigate with about $200,000 from the North Pacific Research Board.

EDIT

Over the past few decades, some of the gulf sperm whales apparently realized that fishers were bringing this deep food source to the surface and learned to remove a 20- to 30-inch fish from hooks. "No one likes to get fewer fish, but take one look at those big whales and you realize you're out of your league," said longliner Dan Falvey, who, along with Curran, is one of 10 fishers working with Straley."

EDIT

http://www.enn.com/news/2005-02-04/s_12752.asp

[Hell Hath No Fury]

1. I LOVE IT!

Ya mess with the sperm whale, ya get the fins! :)

[kimchi]

2. Revenge of the sperm whales!

Smarter than the average Freeper, I betcha!